I think it unnecessary to notice further observations which have been taken in other parts of the Province. I may state, however, that I have been informed by the officer who triangulated the Moeraki and Hawksbury Districts (Mr. England) that, in many localities other than those noted, aberration of the action of the magnetic needle prevailed to such an extent at the time he was engaged on his survey, that it was in some cases a matter of great difficulty, and in others quite impossible, for him to delineate accurately the topographical features of the country from compass observations. The disturbing force in this District, whatever it may be, exerts its influence beyond the limits of the coast line. Conversing, only yesterday, with the captain of one of our sea-going steamers, I asked him whether he ever perceived anything unusual in the action of his compasses in sailing along the coast. He replied, “Yes; at Moeraki my compasses are always affected,” and added that many other masters of vessels had noticed similar irregularities. I was prompted to ask this question by remembering some circumstances in my own experience which, when I relate them, if they do not suggest a probable cause of the effect I have noted, may at least be considered as a somewhat remarkable coincidence. Twenty-five years ago, in the course of business, I held much intercourse with the masters of vessels navigating the north-east coast of England. Frequently, when the action of their compasses was the subject of conversation, I have heard the captains in the coal trade (who, at that time, oftener held their positions in virtue of their having certificates of servitude than of competency, but who, nevertheless, were generally shrewd, observant, and sensible men) remark that in hugging the land when passing a particular place on the Yorkshire coast, which they pointed out on the chart, the compass cards danced about in all directions, and were, so far as indicating the ship's head was concerned, positively useless. Many years subsequent to this—I forget the exact date—those immense deposits of magnetic ore in the Cleveland Hills, the works in connection with which are now giving employment to several thousands of human beings, were discovered, and to their existence, when it became known, the erratic action of the mariner's compass in the locality referred to was attributed—possibly erroneously. It is not my intention to-night to place before you any of the theories which have been enunciated by the many eminent men who have made this branch of physical science their study, to account for the phenomena connected therewith. I have no hypothesis of my own to offer. I have sometimes been amused—not only amused, but amazed—at the facility with which some persons, enunciators of whimsical theories, by a fanciful manipulation of data which ordinary mortals cannot comprehend, have given to the offspring of an excited imagination or an erratic intellect the appearance of an absolutely demonstrated truth. I do not, however, possess this faculty of hypothesizing.